


I Wanna Shout It From The Rooftops

by K1mHeechu1



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Minor Lucas Wong/ Liu Yang Yang, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Romance, Secret Relationship, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K1mHeechu1/pseuds/K1mHeechu1
Summary: Jaemin is happy with his life— Only being able to hold and kiss his boyfriends in public would make it even better.Too bad no one can know he's dating Renjun and Jeno.Or: The one where Jaemin says he's in a relationship but no one believes him.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 216
Collections: NRMFF2020





	I Wanna Shout It From The Rooftops

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, hello.  
> Yes, I stole the title from a Little Mix song.  
> My prompt was #45: "jaemin is cute and gets asked out a lot on campus but insists he's not single but every time he gestures to who his boyfriend is, it's someone different, and no one believes him until they see norenmin actually all together in the same spot"  
> I tweaked it a little (I say tweaked as if Jaemin didn't hijack the fic and decided where we were going himself) but I hope the prompter likes it and I didn't ruin it too much ♥

Jaemin loved nothing more than days like that day.

He loved just lying around doing nothing, listening to Jeno and Renjun bicker as all three of them marathoned really crappy dramas and ate junk food. He loved resting his head on Jeno’s shoulder while he snuggled his body into Renjun’s to steal his warmth.

Jaemin loved planning and going out of his way to make sure he had all the ingredients to make his boyfriends’ favourite dishes, especially when Renjun was done with promotions and able to eat without having to watch his caloric intake every second of the day. He loved pampering Jeno with his favourite desserts when he was done with runway shows and had a few days to just be a normal person instead of model first, human second.

Jaemin loved napping with them, Jeno’s hand caressing his back as he drifted away, nose buried in Renjun’s hair, breathing in his calming scent. He loved taking bike rides with both of them, Renjun pouting most of the way at being dragged out with them even though he had confessed them that, while he hated any form of exercise, he loved seeing them happy and glowing as they biked along the riverside.

Those days made everything better. They were the reason he could go to class and reject person after person that tried to ask him out. If it weren’t for days like those, he would never be able to smile brightly every day, to be kind to people that only saw him as a pretty face and a gentle smile. He was able to face the whispers that he was a fuckboy, that he slept with someone new each day— rumours born out of his friends picking him up to drive him home and the fact that he rejected every single person that tried to ask him out, girl or boy alike.

He had kept mostly to himself since he started uni, too awkward to want to make friends during class, only hanging out with his high school friends during free hours between classes. Donghyuck liked sitting with him in the library, both of them studying for hours on end, before either Mark or Jaemin’s boyfriends called them and demanded they returned home for the day. He only stayed on campus after classes if he had a project or if Donghyuck was there to act as a buffer between Jaemin and the rest of the student body.

Jaemin, for reasons incomprehensible to him, was actually extremely popular. He tended to only speak to a selected group of people other than his friends: Johnny, Mark’s brother, who had known him since he was tiny; Ten, Johnny’s boyfriend and Jaemin’s self-proclaimed older brother, who had given Jaemin no choice but to allow Ten to baby him; Jeno’s older brother Taeyong, who was getting his master's degree on campus while watching over Jaemin like a hawk, swooping in to help when Jaemin's classes overwhelmed him, helping him with anything he didn’t understand; and Ten’s cousin Lucas, who had been shoved his way by Ten when he realised they shared a few classes in first year. They stuck together in shared classes to avoid being placed in groups with people that wouldn’t do the work they were assigned. Later, when Lucas started dating his boyfriend Yangyang, he was inevitably pulled into Jaemin’s social circle as well.

He didn’t understand how people could be interested in him when Jaemin really only talked to maybe three people in the whole uni. The last four years had been plagued by random people he had maybe seen around campus once asking him out on dates, or offering their partnership in... less family-friendly activities. Jaemin did not quite know how to handle these offers, so most of the time he just stared at them, baffled, and would then tell the truth: he was in a relationship. He tended to receive the same response: a chuckle and an eye roll as if to say 'Sure you are.' Jaemin just went with it because how could he prove it? He knew there were rumours about his supposed promiscuity but he also knew how they'd started: his friends.

Jaemin's wonderful friends were all aware of his childhood trauma and how bad riding buses alone was for him, so they all took turns retrieving him from uni. Every day there someone met him and drove him home or even just rode the bus with him. Jaemin loved them for it, but had tried countless times to stop them. No dice. The reason why? They all knew about that one time he'd tried to ride alone after a class was cancelled, only to barely make it off the bus and to the apartment before descending into a full-blown panic attack, sobbing and hyperventilating. Jeno had gone insane with worry and his friends had collectively scolded him before going back to their pick-up routine. 

It was all very innocent, but between Jaemin's reticence to actually speak with anyone out of his circle of friends and the uni rumour mill this rolling pick-up schedule somehow transformed itself into Jaemin going home with a different guy every day, which in turn obviously meant he was easy. Jaemin now had to face countless propositions from complete strangers somehow without killing anyone. He had gotten so close to being done with uni he could see the finish line. He wasn’t going to crack and commit a crime if he had to reject a few more people before graduation. He could totally do it.

* * *

* * *

Jaemin hadn’t had the best childhood—quite the opposite, actually. 

Once upon a time he had been a cheerful, smiley child, happily living with his mum and dad without any care in the world. He was already friends with Donghyuck and Mark, having been in the same class as both of them since they had started primary school. 

Jaemin's life was completely normal. Until the accident. He and his parents were on their way home from a shopping trip. Jaemin still remembered the horrible screech of brakes, the smell of burning, the feel of his whole world flipping on its head. Somehow Jaemin himself had walked away with scrapes and bruises. His parents, however, had died on impact. Suddenly Jaemin was alone. His grandparents took him in but treated him like he was grown, even at 8 years old. He’d had to learn very quickly how to care for himself, to cook for himself and walk home the whole way from school—the only thing in his life that had, thankfully, stayed the same.

After 3 years, his grandparents told him they were no longer comfortable taking care of him. He had been passed to the care of his aunt, who simply made sure he had a small allowance to manage things himself and could keep himself alive, and sent him on his merry way. His walk to school and back home had become twice as long, but he didn’t complain at all, still happy he was able to stay with his friends— By then, the group had added Jeno, who had transferred at the beginning of the year and instantly clicked with them, and Jisung, who Jaemin had defended from a few older kids that had been bullying him and subsequently adopted as his own.

The first year of high school saw Jaemin having to pack his bags to go live with yet another aunt after he had been declared “far too rebellious and picky” to stay with the first one. The move meant he would have a two-hour-long walk each way to and from school every day, but he just clenched his teeth and kept quiet, scared they would make him transfer if he opened his mouth at all. He had only had to walk back home for a week before their new friend, Renjun, realised he lived within walking distance to Jaemin’s aunt house and had offered to take the bus with him so he wouldn’t have to go alone, or even drive him the days his father’s schedule aligned and he had the time to take him instead. Getting used to taking the bus again took a few tries and even more panic attacks, but he eventually managed to get used to riding a bus as long as he had someone to hold onto with him.

And when Renjun’s family moved away from the neighbourhood, Johnny—who was taking a sabbatical year before starting University—had offered to drive him to school every day. 

Jaemin still didn’t know what he had done to deserve such awesome friends.

Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin had started dating during their last year of high school. It had been hard at first— Jeno was slowly starting to build his portfolio as an adult model, trying to make the transition from commercial to high fashion, and Renjun had finally debuted after spending the past year as a trainee under one of the biggest entertainment labels in the country, but they had managed to find balance and be happy.

They had moved in together the second Jaemin turned eighteen, Jaemin not even thinking it twice before accepting Renjun’s offer to live together and packing his bags. He was happy to finally be the one to leave his family behind instead of being the one that got abandoned. 

Renjun’s label had been surprisingly okay with him not living in a dorm, happy they wouldn’t have to spend money in living accommodations for their artist, and Jeno’s family loved Jaemin, so they had been extremely happy Jeno was going to be with him as he got used to living away from the people that had caused him so much pain. Jaemin’s life had been so good since the day they moved that he liked to pretend all the sadness in his past had simply been a bad dream. The only thing that would make it better would be being able to hold and kiss his boyfriends in public, but they had all agreed that while homosexuality wouldn’t ruin their careers, the public learning about their polyamorous relationship wouldn’t be good for Renjun’s or Jeno’s, so Jaemin took it in stride and enjoyed having a family for the first time in ten years. 

* * *

  
  


Jeno loved taking care of Jaemin any way he possibly could, always letting Jaemin know he was there if he needed him. Jaemin sometimes took advantage of Jeno’s helpful spirit and love for him when heavy lifting was involved, but most of the time he used what Renjun had called “the Nana privilege” when he felt like he needed to be held and cuddled. Jeno was his favourite person in the whole world to cuddle, only Renjun a close second. Jaemin could spend hours in Jeno’s embrace, ear against his chest as he cleared his mind of everything except Jeno’s calm, even heartbeat.

Renjun liked to act like he hated cuddles, but he was always the first to wrap his arms around Jaemin when he saw him down. Cuddling Renjun was the opposite of cuddling Jeno— while Jeno made him feel tiny, Renjun had a way of wrapping himself around Jaemin like an octopus that forced Jaemin to bury his nose in Renjun’s hair and wrap his arms around Renjun as if to make sure he wouldn’t be moving an inch from the embrace. 

* * *

* * *

Lucas and Yangyang tended to not really ask about his private life— they knew Jaemin was extremely secretive of his life outside uni. Lucas had learned the hard way not to ask about the past after he questioned Jaemin about the amount of coffee he drank, asking how his family felt about it and receiving an icy “well, they’re dead and the rest of my relatives are idiotic motherfuckers so I have no idea how my family feels about my caffeine consumption, Lucas” in response. Ten had scolded Lucas for a full hour that day, yet Lucas just… never learned.

That was what made Jaemin explode that afternoon as they walked out of the economics building after their class, having to stop for Jaemin to turn down yet another overly friendly girl that had asked him out.

"Jaemin seriously, this is the tenth time someone's asked out today, are you ever going to say yes?"

"Sorry Hyung, I won't, because I'm already in a relationship."

Lucas rolled his eyes, and Yangyang stared at both of them in confusion.

"Wait, why are you rolling your eyes? Am I missing something?"

"You're not missing anything."

"Jaemin here keeps saying he's dating someone but no one has ever seen him with the same person twice, so we know he's lying," Yukhei explained. Yangyang winced at his boyfriend’s words, knowing nothing good would come out of this. Jaemin groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"I've told you a thousand times, I'm in a relationship. A real, committed relationship. And I'm not lying."

"Then why haven't we met this rumoured boyfriend?"

"Because they're... I don't really think you'd- Argh, it's none of your business or anyone on campus' business for that matter, but I don't want to share them with you awful people if I can help it. I want them to myself."

"If you've really been dating whoever that is for however long you have, why the fuck are you so defensive, Jaemin?" Lucas pressed on, and Jaemin froze mid-step.

Yangyang looked like he both wanted to hit Lucas for being so insensitive, and run away from them as fast as he could before everything went to shit.

"Well, Lucas, maybe after being left alone for most of my life, and being thrown from hand to hand like a dirty old diaper no one wanted but no one could get rid of, maybe I want to have something good for myself. Maybe I want someone who would put me first and I want to keep them to myself. Have you ever considered that?" 

Jaemin's voice was harsh, his stare icy and his face full of rage.

Lucas deflated, all the fight leaving his body and being replaced with remorse.

"Jaemin, I'm sorry, I didn't think—"

"Yeah, well, maybe you should think before you speak. Someone might have less self-restraint than me and you'll end up eating their fist at some point if you keep speaking without thinking first." Jaemin took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm going home. I'll finish my part of the essay and send it to you so you can add yours. See you."

Jaemin left, walking away briskly until they could no longer see him.

"I fucked up," Lucas muttered, and Yangyang snorted.

"Yes, you did. You did exactly what Ten-ge told you not to do." Lucas opened his mouth to protest, and Yangyang shook his head. "Leave it. Let's go. I'll text Ten-ge to have him tell Johnny-Hyung to check on Jaemin."

"I... I need to say I'm sorry."

"Save it for later. If you try now, Johnny-Hyung will have your head the next time he sees you."

* * *

Jaemin couldn’t even remember how he had gotten home. Lucas’ words had gotten him so mad he had skipped his next class and gone directly to the bus stop. One second, he was getting on the bus, and the next, he opened his eyes to find himself kneeling in the middle of his apartment’s entrance hallway. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, the noise deafening, and as an afterthought he realised he was hyperventilating like he had just finished running a marathon… or having a panic attack. He shook his head, dropping his keys and bag on the floor before removing most of his clothes and heading directly to the bathroom, turning the shower on the hottest water temperature he could and collapsing there, burying his head between his knees. 

Renjun had found him in that same position about two hours later, having cancelled his vocal lesson and rushed home as Donghyuck let everyone know Jaemin hadn’t come to the library after class and wasn’t answering his phone. He had turned the water off, wincing at how red Jaemin’s skin looked after spending what he suspected was far too long under the hot stream. For the first time since they had moved in, Renjun resented the building’s incredible water heating system.

“Hey, honey? Nana?” Renjun called, trying to keep his voice as gentle as he could, masking his fear as much as possible, “Baby, please wake up.” He combed his fingers through Jaemin’s soaked hair, trying to sweep it off his forehead.

Jaemin grunted a little, making Renjun sigh in relief.

“Jun?” Jaemin groggily asked, voice rough.

”Yes, Nana. Come on, let’s get you out of there and in bed.”

Jaemin complied easily, going with him and allowing himself to be stripped out of his remaining clothes, towelled dry, redressed and tucked into bed without a single noise.

“Jun, stay.” 

Renjun nodded, taking his jeans off before climbing in bed and hugging Jaemin tightly against his body. He felt him sigh in relief before going lax against him and immediately falling asleep. He dropped a kiss against Jaemin’s shoulder before taking his phone out of his pocket carefully to text Jeno, asking him to return to the apartment as fast as possible. He was answered in the affirmative almost instantly. Renjun put the phone to the side before running his fingers through Jaemin’s damp hair, the way he knew made Jaemin melt against him when he was stressed.

Jeno arrived ten minutes later, joining them in bed, a concerned frown on his face.

“What happened? Did anyone find out?” Jeno asked, voice quiet as he scooted closer to them.

“Mark said Ten called him to tell him Lucas and Jaemin fought after their econ class, and Jaemin stormed off. Hyuckie thinks Jaemin skipped his class and made his way back home by himself. I found him in the shower, he’s lucky he had clothes on or he’d have gotten burned, that’s how hot the water was.”

Jeno sighed, caressing Jaemin’s cheek, frown deepening almost instantly. 

“I think he gave himself a temperature. Send Mark a message and ask him if he can bring some medicine, we don’t have any.”

Renjun nodded, quickly relaying the message to their friend.

“Nono...” Jaemin cried as he woke up, scooting back to try and plaster himself against Jeno’s body.

“Shh, Nana, I’m here. I’m right here and so is Junnie.”

“They think I lie. They think you two don’t exist...” Jaemin’s voice sounded tired and weak, full of emotion. “I want to tell the truth but… can’t do that to you, I...” 

“Nana, baby, calm down— That’s it love, breathe.” Renjun rubbed Jaemin’s back as he heard someone typing the code into the keypad and opening the front door.

Donghyuck and Mark peeked into the room, and Jeno dropped a kiss on Jaemin’s forehead before standing up to grab the medicine box and water bottle Donghyuck had brought— a loud sob from Jaemin made everyone freeze, but Jeno reacted quickly, motioning Mark and Donghyuck to wait in the living room. He made his way towards the bed, the door slamming behind his back.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“How’s Nana?” 

Renjun sighed, closing the door as he left their shared room. He turned around to face their friends.

“We finally managed to get him to sleep. His temperature’s coming down so I think the medicine is finally working.” Renjun sat on the sofa next to Donghyuck, who quickly raised his hand to comb Donghyuck’s hair with his fingers. ”Jeno stayed with him in case he wakes up.”

“Stress again?” Mark bit his lip as the words left his mouth. 

“Yeah, it’s just… I think he’s taking the fact that no one believes him when he says he’s in a relationship too harshly. He says that it’s okay and that he doesn’t want us to come out like that for him but… I’m worried that it’s just going to get worse if we don’t do something.”

“Do you…” Donghyuck sighed before smiling gently at Renjun, cutting himself off to add, “We’re here in case you need anything.”

“We know. Thank you guys, seriously. But we’re going to be okay—Jaemin is going to be okay.”

* * *

* * *

Jaemin was pretty sure all of his friends had gone insane overnight.

Seriously, it was as if they were ants and someone had suddenly kicked their nest. Mark kept opening and closing his bag, checking and re-checking everything he needed was there— as if there was a chance something had grown feet and ran away from his bag in the 30 seconds between the last two times he looked inside. Donghyuck was patting Jisung's hair down, trying to get it to stay in the shape he had forced it into; Jisung whined all along that it looked like he was wearing a helmet, but stayed still and allowed Donghyuck to fawn over him. Jeno and Renjun were talking quietly in a corner, too quietly for Jaemin to understand anything they were saying, not with the amount of noise Chenle was making as he used the blowdryer to make his hair lie over his forehead exactly how he wanted it to be.

Jaemin scratched his forehead before going back to inspecting his newly polished dress shoes. He crinkled his nose at the feeling of the bowtie he was wearing digging into his skin as he tried to take a deep breath.

Who could’ve known a simple graduation ceremony could make you so nervous? He wasn’t even the only one graduating. Donghyuck was going to be picking his diploma that day, as well— Jaemin had no doubt that was the only reason why Jisung had been so docile to Donghyuck’s advances the entire morning.

“Okay, are we ready? Let’s go, please, or we’ll be late.” Mark pleaded, car keys already in his hand, and everyone muttered in agreement, chaotically making their way out of Norenmin’s apartment (Chenle had named it that as a joke when they had first moved, and it had just stuck) and into the two cars they were using to go to the venue.

  
  


  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Jaemin felt disconnected from his body as he and Donghyuck made their way to where all their friends and Donghyuck’s parents were waiting for them. He was so incredibly happy he had actually made it, he had graduated. Best of all, he had his family, the real one, the one he had chosen (and that had chosen him) time and time again, there to support him

He laughed as Johnny gave him a bear hug, lifting him up as he squeezed him before passing him to Ten, who also hugged him tightly. Next in line was Taeyong, who was trying, quite badly, to hide the fact that he had been crying up until a moment ago.

“I’m so proud of you, Jaeminnie. I’m so, so proud.” Taeyong patted his cheek before smiling at him, eyes wet with tears.

“Thanks, Hyung.”

“Nana,” Jeno’s voice sounded behind him, and he turned around to instantly find himself wrapped in a tight hug. He tensed for a moment before relaxing against Jeno’s warmth and hugging back. “So, so proud of you, baby. I love you so much!” Jeno’s voice sounded loud in his ears, and Jaemin let go and leaned back, staring at Jeno’s face in bewilderment as he was dropped back down on his feet.

“Our boyfriend is so smart, isn’t he, Nono?” Renjun smiled, leaning in to hold Jaemin’s cheeks, tenderly running his thumbs against the flushed skin. “You did it, love. I’m really proud of you.”

Jaemin felt his eyes fill with tears as he realised what was happening and saw the confident shine in his boyfriends’ eyes.

Renjun kissed him first, tenderly humming against his mouth and playfully biting his lower lip softly before letting go. Jeno barely gave Jaemin a second to breathe before leaning in to kiss him next, lips soft against his, damp breath against Jaemin’s cheek.

They broke the kiss and Jaemin couldn’t help but smile and throw his arms around both his boyfriends.

(He could hear the gasps and whispers around the venue as his classmates realised what was happening, and tried to understand that he had been telling the truth about being in a relationship all along— and with famous people, on top of that! No wonder he wouldn’t give anyone a chance.)

Jaemin closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against both his boyfriends’ shoulders, taking it all in.

No more hiding. He could kiss them, hold them, talk about them now. No more secrecy.

Jaemin had his favourite kind of days: lazy days, cuddling with his boyfriends doing nothing, without a care in the world.

Jaemin loved nothing more than days like that day. Every lazy day with Rejun and Jeno was the best day ever.

But that day? That day was a close second, and it had nothing to do with graduating and everything to do with how stupidly in love he was.

  
  


  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

_(“Holy shit, he wasn’t lying then?”_

_“Lucas, don’t—” “Yangie,wha—”_

_“Lucas Wong, don’t think I won’t scold you to hell and back just because it’s your graduation day.”_

_“BUT TEN GE—!”)_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Million thanks to the friend that betaed this, the friends that kept me sane while I fought this fic, and the fest organisers for such an awesome fest!! ♥
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/K1mHeechu1) (plz, I need more Twitter friends! It'd be nice to have more people to talk to!), [Instagram](https://instagram.com/k1mheechu1/) and [CC](https://curiouscat.qa/K1mHeechu1)


End file.
